THE PROSPECTS OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 



biological processes. Man has sought to escape death and 

 soften the rigors of an omnipresent natural selection by 

 improvement in the arts of life. Culture is a buffer between 

 man and nature. It enables him to ward off his natural 

 enemies and improve the quality of life, while also increas- 

 ing his numbers. In consequence of it, and the above-men- 

 tioned collective aggressiveness, he is the only mammal 

 that has spread to all parts of the globe by its own initiative. 



Culture may be most briefly defined as inclusive of all 

 habits, attitudes, skills, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, morals, 

 and material possessions acquired by an individual as a 

 member of a society. It is a product of three universal 

 human traits; namely, (1) the tendency to live in groups; 

 (2) the powers of associative memory (capacity to learn 

 or to profit by experience); and (3) the capacity for articu- 

 late speech. With these, man was equipped to develop 

 implements to supplement the hand in the chase and war; 

 clothing for ornament and warmth; houses for protection 

 from the elements; language and communication; moral, 

 political, and juridical codes to govern the internal rela- 

 tions of associates; myth, magic, religion, and science to 

 govern the action of the forces of nature. This culture thus 

 constitutes man's answer to the problem of existence. It 

 is his unique and unrivaled mode of adaptation to nature. 

 Everywhere it stands as a buffer between a society and 

 destructive forces, whether these arise from the physio- 

 graphic environment, from hostile human groups, from the 

 breeders of dissension within the group, or from that 

 transcendental and mystical world of spirits which man 

 imagined all about him. 



This view has the merit of bringing every aspect of cul- 

 ture within the range of the natural. None of it is miracu- 

 lous or mystical in source and essence. Even those parts of 

 it especially designed to explain or to deal with what are 

 conceived as mystical entities and experiences come within 



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